Future of free addiction recovery programs in question after The Haven loses $150,000 in grants

A study says the number of deadly heroin overdoses in the country more than quadrupled from 2010 to 2015. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, there were almost 13,000 overdose deaths involving heroin in 2015, compared to more than 3,000 deaths fatalities five years earlier. The center's research was based on death certificate data and did not examine whether overdoses were intentional suicides or accidental deaths. Heroin has been becoming more potent and cheaper to buy, which may be causing more people to use it, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Husband and wife, Arielle and Matt Jones, both graduated from The Life Recovery programs offered for both men and women at The Haven of Rest Ministries. Both programs will face budget cuts in July.(Photo: Al Lassen/For the Enquirer)

Today, Matt and Arielle live in their home, a grayish-blue three-bedroom in Battle Creek with a bright blue front door. They work full-time at The Haven. They're both sober.

But the organization that helped them get clean has recently found itself in a tough situation.

Daniel Jones, executive director of The Haven of Rest Ministries, found out in April that the organization would lose $150,000 in funding for fiscal year 2019, more than 8% of the organization's total budget. He won’t name the funder.

The Haven is Calhoun County's emergency homeless shelter, serving between 2,200 and 2,400 people each year, but the loss will mostly impact The Haven's free long-term recovery programs for men and women battling addiction.

The loss will mean a cut of $60,000 to The Haven's Women's Life Recovery Program. The Men's Life Recovery Program will lose about $32,500.

The programs can make it through the end of the year, Jones said, but after that, The Haven will have to evaluate what to do next with the programs if they don't find another way to support them.

If the programs were to go away, the cost then would be on the community, Jones says, with more crimes committed, more children in foster care and more people in emergency rooms.

"We are saving the community $3 to $4 million a year in the bad things that don't happen," he said. "I am truly and personally committed to this programs. They save lives."

The loss of funding will also affect the organization's two shelters and an educational support program for children.

"From a faith-based institution, we carry on with the belief that God has a plan for this. We open the door to people helping us," Jones said. "The door closed on this funding for a reason. I truly believe there’s [another] funding source out there."

Executive Director of The Haven of Rest Ministries Daniel Jones says the organization will face a $150,000 funding cut in July.(Photo: Al Lassen/For the Enquirer)

THE PROBLEM AND THE PROGRAM

In Calhoun County, more people die from drug-related overdoses than auto accidents.

From 2015 to 2017, more than 40 opioid-related deaths happened every year.

And the problem isn't going away.

Through April. Calhoun County has seen 105 non-fatal heroin overdoses and 33 non-fatal opiate overdoses, according to the Substance Abuse Council of Battle Creek.

In 2017, the county saw 211 non-fatal heroin overdoses, up from 152 the previous year. Opiate overdoses dropped from 89 to 68 from 2016 to 2017.

"I will say this as our county’s public health physician, this is a significant public health challenge for our community, and we are prioritizing it as a community and a health department," County Medical Director Dr. William Nettleton said. "It does require a sustained community effort."

Funding loss at The Haven is a concern for Sheriff Matt Saxton, both because the jail's ministry program operates through The Haven, and because seeing funding pulled from recovery programs "that do good things for those addicted" during a drug epidemic is not good for the community.

"I have seen a lot of people change their lives around because of the help at Haven of Rest Men’s Life Recovery Program," Saxton said. "It gave a lot of men a second chance. And the same for women."

The Substance Abuse Council is a drug prevention and intervention organization that works with The Haven as a partner in the fight against drug use.

"Their Men's and Women's Life Recovery Program is very beneficial to the community," Council Executive Director Dawn Smith said.

Smith "really" believes The Haven has been successful in its role to bring people to sobriety.

The Haven is the only residential program in the area that's free, she said. Other programs take insurance, or participants pay out of pocket.

"The Haven is really one of those places for people who need help but don’t have financial means [to get help]," Smith said. "We are very thankful to have them there."

Some people need the residential program, but others can go through outpatient treatment or participate in a 12-step program and be successful, Smith said.

"I usually don’t recommend one thing because one thing doesn’t work for everyone," Smith said.

Historically, The Haven has seen about 80 percent of graduates stay sober for more than two years, and that, to the organization, is considered a success.

The Men's Life Recovery Program began 20 years ago. Last year, it had 79 participants with 28 graduates. The Women's Life Recovery Program had 39 participants and 23 graduates.

Men are offered a 12-month residential program, meaning they stay on The Haven's campus.

The women's program, which started in 2013, used to be residential, but a loss of funding led The Haven to make it a day program. The program lasts a minimum of three months. It runs 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. After the three months, women can choose to keep coming back, and staff stay connected to them.

"We have some women who we still provide counseling and case management beyond two years to," Program Coordinator Becky Davis said.

While in the program, women receive individual and group counseling and case management support. Staff help them with health issues, finances, housing, legal issues and any other basic living needs. They also do crafts and take fitness classes. It's not just about recovery but helping the participants to rebuild their lives.

"Maybe they will be able to stop using the substances, but they sometimes doubt that they will be able to get back on their feet and be resilient again, so a lot of what we do is just encourage them, help them, guide them to just make doable steps," Davis said.

If the women need a place to stay, they are sent to The Haven's shelter. About two-thirds of women enrolled in the program stay there.

"There’s a need for [housing]," Davis said. "The shelter is meeting that need now but we are limited with how we can meet that need. It would be ideal for them to have a shelter that is focusing specifically on them as they are going through recovery."

FUNDING STRUGGLE

The Haven missed payroll last August. Daniel Jones, at the time, said it was a seasonal cash-flow issue.

"We moved rapidly and restructured," he said.

The Haven went from 60 employees down to fewer than 50, restructured some of the ministries and replaced the accounting team.

"We came up with a financial stability plan," Daniel said. "That was a great plan."

But then the plan got a $150,000 hole in it.

"We were already in financial repair mode," he said. "This doesn't sink the boat, but it does challenge us."

For fiscal year 2019, which starts in July, The Haven projects a break-even budget of $1.719 million, largely from state and federal government contracts that compensate the organization for nights The Haven provides shelter to homeless residents and veterans.

Grant income has dropped to $418,500 from $544,330, which reflects the loss of the $150,000 and some gains in other grant areas.

The Haven's largest expense is payroll and benefits costs for employees, which make up nearly 80% of the budget. Utilities and client-related costs are The Haven's second largest expense, making up 5% of the budget. Administrative overhead as a percentage of all expenses is 12%.

This year, the budgets for the Men's Life Recovery Program and Women's Life Recovery Program will be made whole with money from the general fund.

But Jones still hopes to fill the $150,000 hole this year and for next year, too.

The Haven has received some increases in donations from a few larger local churches after Jones reached out to them. Those commitments last through the end of the year.

"The faith-based community is responding," Daniel said. "They see the value in these programs. We are moving to that sustainability mindset. There’s a silver lining to every cloud. We are still a Christ-focused ministry. There’s been opportunity to access other sources of money if we were more secular, but we will not go down the road."

THE BATTLE

Matt and Arielle Jones have been together for seven years and married for one. In those seven years, they battled addiction. They had a son and lost custody of him. They survived brutal Michigan winters on the streets.

"It was like surviving a plane crash," Matt said. "We overcame everything. A lot of it is because of Haven."

Matt began his battle with addiction as a teenager. He started with prescription pills and, by 27, he moved to heroin. He did drugs, he says, because he enjoyed getting high.

It took Matt two months in jail to get him to realize he needed to change.

Matt Jones graduated from the Men's Life Recovery Program at The Haven of Rest Ministries and is now employed in the kitchen at The Haven.(Photo: Al Lassen/For the Enquirer)

"In a month's time, I lost Arielle, my son, and I lost my freedom," he said. "I took a plea deal. What they were offering me was a second chance."

Arielle was 22 when she started using heroin. Peer pressure got her started.

"I'm a very impressionable person," she said.

Matt went into the Life Recovery Program in April of last year.

"I tried to get in there once before, but the drugs were more important," he said.

It would be the fourth time he went into a program to try to get sober.

After he started the program, Matt sent Arielle to The Haven to apply for the Women's Life Recovery Program. It would be the third program she went into seeking sobriety.

Arielle is now seven months sober, and she works full-time at The Haven helping with a homeless database.

"It taught me how to cope with my feelings," Arielle said of the program. "How to work through things and to love myself. They bring hope."

Matt is two years sober and works in the kitchen full-time at The Haven.

Matt says the biggest thing The Haven taught him was accountability.

"They taught me that the world doesn’t revolve around me," he said. "It’s a game changer. I wouldn’t be where I am today without The Haven. My bills wouldn’t be paid. I would be under a bridge."

Contact Kalea Hall at (269) 966-0697 or khall@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter at @bykaleahall